I would be more impressed if Seppelt looked into the the history of his own national team (the winningest team in football history) instead of constantly pointing fingers at others, but it's a start I guess. Although football seems to be protected from all sides as either too big or too important to be dented by any type of doping scandals.

Seppelt has an agenda, no doubt about it. His anti-Russian hysteria is borderline xenophobic. His documentaries are political propaganda. He's also going after Jamaicans, Kenyans, Ethiopians, Brazilians....When was the last time he and ARD (German state television) went after their own football team? He knows full well that if he goes down that road it won't be easy for him, because it's easy to rip into other countries, particularly those that his country has had a tense relationship with. I've stopped caring what he posts. I'll start caring again when he talks about the doping around the German team in the 1954 world, the Bundesliga in the 70's, 80's and doping in West Germany in general. Where are those stories? Where is the story about high profile German athletes working with the Freiburg and Vienna labs? ARD continuously going after certain countries is political. The more I think about their motives and how they are zeroing in on particular countries, the more I understand what this is all about. His goal was for the IOC to block Russia from competing at Rio, and when he didn't get his wish, he pouted on Twitter, like he usually does. ARD and BBC have really dove into the political propaganda and the hysteria is off putting. I haven't gone to his Twitter account in a long while.

To be fair though, if he goes after an actual star team (like Brazil 2002) then that's a very good start. The problem with Russia wasn't that they were going after Russia but that they were going after nobodies. Gold medal winners that had no prestige and were easy to dismiss.

The reason why the media has to constantly defend their heroes like Bolt or Sky or Radclife is because those sports are somewhat associated with doping.

Football is teflon.

Roberto Carlos usually makes it into worlds greatest ever xi lists. If he gets outed as a doper, and the 2002 Brazil team gets outed as having had a doper when they won it, that takes the teflon off the sport, and the silent majority will wonder whether footballers do dope on a grander scale.

Indirectly, thats bad for Seppelt's German national team. So I support him going after whoever he wants, as long as they are actual dopers who made real money and fame doping, and not nobodies who can't even pay off their mortgage with the weightlifting gold medal.

The Hitch wrote:To be fair though, if he goes after an actual star team (like Brazil 2002) then that's a very good start. The problem with Russia wasn't that they were going after Russia but that they were going after nobodies. Gold medal winners that had no prestige and were easy to dismiss.

The reason why the media has to constantly defend their heroes like Bolt or Sky or Radclife is because those sports are somewhat associated with doping.

Football is teflon.

Roberto Carlos usually makes it into worlds greatest ever xi lists. If he gets outed as a doper, and the 2002 Brazil team gets outed as having had a doper when they won it, that takes the teflon off the sport, and the silent majority will wonder whether footballers do dope on a grander scale.

Indirectly, thats bad for Seppelt's German national team. So I support him going after whoever he wants, as long as they are actual dopers who made real money and fame doping, and not nobodies who can't even pay off their mortgage with the weightlifting gold medal.

Good post.

Agree that at least indirectly it could be bad for the German national team. Can't wait for a Brazilian TV crew to go undercover on Healing Hans' ***.

The problems I had with the documentary: - the title ("Brazil's dirty games") was kind of suggesting that it's just those dirty Brazilians; - the program didn't review previous doping cases in soccer. There are plenty, and Seppelt should have mentioned a few, if only to give credit where it's due. He closed the program claiming that his investigation proved that doping is a problem in soccer. In reality though, his investigation merely adds to an already existing body of evidence to that extent.

But apart from that, yes, a very welcome investigation that should prompt some people to take off the blinders.

The Hitch wrote:To be fair though, if he goes after an actual star team (like Brazil 2002) then that's a very good start. The problem with Russia wasn't that they were going after Russia but that they were going after nobodies. Gold medal winners that had no prestige and were easy to dismiss.

The reason why the media has to constantly defend their heroes like Bolt or Sky or Radclife is because those sports are somewhat associated with doping.

Football is teflon.

Roberto Carlos usually makes it into worlds greatest ever xi lists. If he gets outed as a doper, and the 2002 Brazil team gets outed as having had a doper when they won it, that takes the teflon off the sport, and the silent majority will wonder whether footballers do dope on a grander scale.

Indirectly, thats bad for Seppelt's German national team. So I support him going after whoever he wants, as long as they are actual dopers who made real money and fame doping, and not nobodies who can't even pay off their mortgage with the weightlifting gold medal.

Good post.

Agree that at least indirectly it could be bad for the German national team. Can't wait for a Brazilian TV crew to go undercover on Healing Hans' ***.

The problems I had with the documentary: - the title ("Brazil's dirty games") was kind of suggesting that it's just those dirty Brazilians; - the program didn't review previous doping cases in soccer. There are plenty, and Seppelt should have mentioned a few, if only to give credit where it's due. He closed the program claiming that his investigation proved that doping is a problem in soccer. In reality though, his investigation merely adds to an already existing body of evidence to that extent.

But apart from that, yes, a very welcome investigation that should prompt some people to take off the blinders.

sniper wrote:It was fun to watch the South Koreans run marathons in full sprint mode, game after game.Until those squeaky clean Germans brought them to a halt in the semis.

This particular world cup's problem was terribly blatant officiating.

It is not unusual for the host nation to gain assistance in this way. The 1966 officials were hilarious to the point where British diplomats working in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil complained of the anger that the tournament had generated in South America. Not one of the aforementioned three even made the semis.

He'll direct J-Medical, a high-end medical practice owned by Juventus, which is often used by the club's professional athletes.

For those who don't remember or heard of the affair:

Last Friday in Turin's Palazzo di Giustizia, Judge Giuseppe Casalbore sentenced Agricola to 22 months in jail for supplying Juventus players with performance-enhancing drugs, including the banned blood-boosting hormone erythropoietin (EPO), between 1994 and 1998. Agricola was also barred from practising medicine for 22 months and fined €2,000 (£1,390).

Giraudo, who was also on trial, was cleared of all charges. A third defendant, Giovanni Rossano, a pharmacist accused of supplying drugs on bogus prescriptions, agreed a plea bargain with the court and had a five-month custodial sentence reduced to a €5,000 fine.

The trial had its origins in an interview given by Zdenek Zeman, then the Roma coach (he is now with Lecce), who told L'espresso magazine in 1998 that football needed to "come out of the pharmacy", and pointed the finger at Juventus players in particular. It prompted Raffaele Guariniello, a magistrate in Juve's home city of Turin, to launch an investigation. Some of the evidence uncovered was startling.

When investigators raided the club they found 281 different types of drug. Few, if any of them were banned by the International Olympic Committee and no EPO was found. But the sheer quantity of pharmaceuticals told the magistrates that something was amiss. As Gianmartino Benzi, medical adviser to Guariniello, put it, "the club was equipped like a small hospital".

By January 2002, Guariniello felt he had enough evidence to bring charges and club officials were put on trial for the alleged illegal use of drugs by its players. The turning point in that trial came in June this year when two independent experts appointed by the court presented their findings. By any standards these were extraordinary. Eugenio Muller, a pharmacologist, reported that the club had systematically supplied its players with prescription-only drugs, with no therapeutic justification but with the aim of boosting energy levels or speeding recovery after injury.

Among the drugs used were Voltaren, an anti-inflammatory and pain killer, which was used by 32 players. The drug is widely used in football to treat isolated injuries but Muller said that at Juventus the usage was not occasional but planned, continuous and substantial.

Samyr, a powerful anti-depressant, was taken by 23 players, even though "none of these players showed any signs of depression", according to Muller. Neoton, a drug used to protect the heart, was taken by 14 players.

River Plate (ARG) had at least two players doped: Lucas Martínez Quarta y Camilo Mayada. They expect five more (Sebastián Driussi, Jonathan Maidana, Leonardo Ponzio, Ignacio Fernández y Lucas Alario). Two players per team are tested during Copa Libertadores matches, and they played six games so far.The substance is a diuretic: hydrochlorothiazide.Team defense is a "contamination" of a multivitamin supplement.

Now, what is worst:River Plate advanced in the group round, and they are not excluded after this scandal. On the contrary, the team is rewarded with a surprising new ruling that admits signing 6 players for the next round.

That gives a complete picture of how corrupt is Conmebol (not long ago several officials were captured during the FIFA scandal)

slosada wrote:River Plate (ARG) had at least two players doped: Lucas Martínez Quarta y Camilo Mayada. They expect five more (Sebastián Driussi, Jonathan Maidana, Leonardo Ponzio, Ignacio Fernández y Lucas Alario). Two players per team are tested during Copa Libertadores matches, and they played six games so far.The substance is a diuretic: hydrochlorothiazide.Team defense is a "contamination" of a multivitamin supplement.

Now, what is worst:River Plate advanced in the group round, and they are not excluded after this scandal. On the contrary, the team is rewarded with a surprising new ruling that admits signing 6 players for the next round.

That gives a complete picture of how corrupt is Conmebol (not long ago several officials were captured during the FIFA scandal)

CONCACAF in 2014 were good value. Even FIFA went after Costa Rica's miraculous energy levels.